Amber passed Hunter Ed. when she was 7 and harvested her first deer at 8. By 14, she had harvested a few bucks and two cows, and was pretty pumped when she found out she had drawn a bull permit this year. She's pretty good about staying off the trigger and assured me we were going to hold out for a nice one. I just smiled and said it's your tag, I'll ride it with you as far as you want to go, and regardless of what you end up with we're going to have fun and enjoy the adventure!
We scouted, put in our time and were prepared when her hunt rolled around. Opening day was a bust. We got wet, cold and only saw a few smaller bulls, which she passed on. I assured her there was no pressure and we should concentrate on enjoying the hunt, besides the weather was supposed to be beautiful the rest of the week... cold but sunny.
Day two had us hunting a different end of the unit and at daylight we found the bull we had put to bed the day before. Over the past five scouting trips, we had looked at well over 100 bulls and this clean, solid 6X6 was one of the biggest we had seen... and probably the best looking all around bull. We decided to put a stalk on him and see if she could close the deal. When we crawled up to the knob and peeked around the edge, he was quartered hard towards us at 90 yards just feeding away. I told her when she was ready to put one just forward of the front shoulder and the angle should put out right behind the off shoulder.
She got set up on the bipod and settled the crosshairs of the .30-378 Weatherby Mag. just forward of his shoulder. He kept feeding from side to side and getting his antlers in the way for a shot. He finally settled into a straight on position and I told her when she was ready to send a 180 grain Nosler Accubond right between the middle of his antlers, as they were bracketing both sides of her target. She slipped the safety off and settled in behind the scope... boooooooom!
At the shot he jumped forward a little and then just starting stumbling to his left... down he went. She had made a perfect shot, just forward of the right front shoulder and we found the bullet in the hide just behind the left shoulder. Amber had just taken her first bull, and a dandy to boot! I don't know who was more proud, her or I, but one thing's for sure, it sure was cool to share that with your kid... something neither of us will ever forget!!!
A special thanks to our buddies for helping us scout, hunt and pack, it wouldn't have been as much fun by ourselves.
Great job Amber... Congrats!
